No clue. There was also some dude that said he was filming for Gatorade. He was by himself and I have no idea what the hell he was actually getting footage for. He interviewed me for awhile and asked things about being a fan and stuff, but ht equestions were way to involved to be for a commercial. And on top of that, I didn't have to sign a release like the documentary film crew made everyone do.
I'll tell you what...when I come down to your new stadium, I'll sit right next to you in your supporter's section and not even think about standing on the bleachers or seats cause that's how you guys want it. And I'll be happy with it, okay? I really just want to come down there to see that stadium. I don't give a rat who's playing.
You said seats, not bleachers. He also said seats. But hypothetically, I honestly don't see the point in standing on the seats. If someone else does it, than everybody else has to do it - so it cancels out any height advantage and it actually makes it easier to fall if you're jumping like crazy from excitement.
Well, if you sit, you won't be able to see.... and you'll have a snare drum in your ear..... with the bass drums behind you.... but if that's what you really want, I'm not going to stop you. Feel free to come on down for the MLS Cup, or, hopefully, some WC warmups next year.
Well, sadly with my wedding and the trip to Germany both having to be paid for next year, I have put all trips on hold for the rest of this year. Maybe if there's a friendly right before Germany, I could fly down there. That'd be cool.
I'm hoping the game against Germany is in Dallas, but there should be at least one game before the World Cup in Dallas. And don't be surprised if they don't schedule a USA-Mexico game in Dallas again - Bruce seems to like the competitive atmosphere.
You know, I'm still carrying around a rather hoarse voice some four days after the match, and no matter how I try, I just can't seem to put the events of last weekend into the proper context, other than to say this has already become one of those "you should have been there moments." That being said, here are some random memories of mine from the weekend: * Playing a round of golf on Friday afternoon with patfan1, brianzappa, rswenson, and john lavalley (some members of the New England Brigade), specifically the following highlight: Rswenson: (to me) "If you can hit the green with a four iron from here I'm packing it in and I'll let you drive me around all day..." Me: (whack!) Rswenson: "O.k., that's it - you drive..." * Walking to O'Shaughnessey's (or anywhere in downtown Columbus for that matter), and being stunned at the absolute lack of people out and about in the city... incredibly clean, but no one around... * "There's only one Chinese lantern!... ONE CHINESE LANTERN!..." * I've never seen so many Irish Car Bombs consumed at one time. The KC Brigade deserves some merit bades for that... * Still wondering who the woman with short blond hair and brown t-shirt was at O'Shaughnessey's... * Stealing a luggage cart at The Westin with Brianzappa (what would you expect after that many pints of Bass and those many pitchers of Red Bull & Vodka) ... * Bumping into Claudio Reyna on Saturday morning on a quest for coffee... * Setting up the card stunt/tifo prior to the match... * Meeting/confronting the Mexican supporters at the tailgate for chanting and singing... * Seeing Weberking's permagrin after he'd arrived in Columbus at the very last minute... * Jane and Nora... * Marching into the stadium beating the drums, holdnig up the scarves, and seeing everyone turn around (mainly U.S. fans) to cheer and take photos, including one group fo women working a concession-area near the U.S. supporters' section... * Realizing the card stunt did work... * Going nuts after the first goal, and even more so after the second... all manner of random people hugging others, falling over each other... * Rishi pretty much holding me up as I tried to keep drumming as the 90th minute approached... * Monty and I downign enough Fisherman's Friend to keep our voices from being totally blown... * Sticking around the stadium after the match to see the players do a second lap of honor... * Chanting, drumming, and singing on the way out, and stopping immediately behind the Telemundo tent while doing so... and while they were on-air... * The champgane shower in the parking lot (haven't seen photos of that yet)... * Back to O'Shaughnessy's, and continuing with the shennanigans... * Drinking them dry of Guinness, Sam Adams, Strongbow, Bass (I think that came later)... * Waking up the next day, having a relaxing lunch at Gordon Biersch, and leaving the thank you note at O'Shaughnessy's... ... and still being physically exhausted and hoarse four days later. Unbelieveable. The Magpie
People keep asking me this morning how the game was... As soon as I talk they laugh and say "You still don't have your voice back 4 days later?"
For me, this is the memory. Seeing KK make all the guys get together and go around the field will burn in my memory for ever. On another note, I was telling a few co-workers how I spent the weekend and someone from our athletic department (I work at a small college) was in the room. He looked at me and said, "That was a huge win." This guy doesn't coach soccer. He's just a sports fan. I think little by little, things like this are creeping into people's consciousness. And I think the fans are a huge part of this.
Ah - does it work better than most, or just something you guys are exposed to up there? (Needless to say, if the former, then it sure seems to be something we need to make available in mass quantities for games....)
Personally I found it works better. If you heard my voice after the bar singing on Friday night, and the fact that I was able to repeat it Saturday night, that stuff rocks!
Then you had better start on figuring out how to smuggle mass quantities into Germany next year. We've got a lot of work to do, boys and girls. I hate to say this with as cool as things were in Korea, but that wasn't in the Big Boys' Back Yard. Everyone had to travel. It will be a much tougher row to hoe. I think we can do it - certainly after what we saw in Columbus and Salt Lake this year - but we're going to need to be ready for it. Bring it!
This is what I remember most...all of a sudden it got sooooo loud in the stadium and then we joined in on the U-S-A Chant. If everyone in the stadium knew what we were saying in the SA Section then the games would be even louder. As it is, the rest of the crowd only knows the U-S-A standard, but it was the loudest i've heard a game since the US/guatemala game at RFK during '02 qualifying. It was so great to see everyone standing, even the expensive seat people didn't sit down. I thought the card stunt didn't work, but I did see a couple pics of it, so it did. Our whole section was off on the anthem becuase we were under the flag and no one knew when to start singing that was hilarious. Think the band would be louder. Had tons of food and beer before the match, saw the hot telemundo girl walking into the stadium. O'shaughnessy's afterward was amazing. Tell Quintan the waitress hi for me if you live in c'bus..haha. Two nights of drunken debauchery. What a hell of a weekend...glad I was 'sick' from work on friday so I could get there early and enjoy the fun. Johna, Rob from SD and everyone else that I met this weekend cheers, it was a blast, eh?
As for pre-game and in-game, I think Salt Lake was a pretty good experience, but it sure sounds like the bar scene was better in Columbus (gee, now why would that be?) But I'd rather look at it this way - great experiences were had in this round of qualfying. Let's keep the momentum going!
Haven't read the entire thread but I thought I would share this good clip of the tailgate. (If you haven't downloaded from rapidshare before just click the "Free" near the bottom by the "Select your download" box. Then wait a bit for your ticket to come up...there's a timer at the bottom. And enjoy!)
The athmosphere for Saturday's game was better than any game I've ever been to -- US, Europe, Club or Country. It was surreal -- I can assure you that anyone who was at both would select the game on Saturday, there is nothing to compare it to when it comes to US Soccer.